KAYAK Launches Ask AI as World Cup Fans Face Rising Travel Costs

KAYAK introduced Ask AI, giving travelers a new way to plan trips through a chat-style search experience.

Users can ask normal questions, such as where to stay near a stadium or how to compare flights between host cities, while live flight, hotel, and car rental results update beside the conversation.

The launch comes before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will run from June 11 to July 19 across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

World Cup demand is already pushing prices higher

KAYAK says flight searches to US host cities are up 23 percent compared with last summer.

Hotel prices are already rising across host markets. KAYAK reported increases of 36 percent in the US, 55 percent in Canada, and 119 percent in Mexico. Kansas City is one of the strongest growth markets, with flight searches up 168 percent year over year. The data suggests that travelers who wait too long may face higher prices and fewer convenient options.

Ask AI connects planning with bookable results

The main difference between Ask AI and a basic chatbot is that KAYAK keeps live search results next to the conversation. A traveler can refine a request, but still see prices, dates, filters, and real booking options.

Ask AI builds on KAYAK’s AI Mode, launched in October 2025. That earlier feature let users ask travel questions in natural language and receive real-time results from hundreds of providers. It was powered by ChatGPT and KAYAK’s own travel data. Ask AI expands that idea by making the planning process more continuous and easier to manage.

KAYAK adds World Cup data for travelers

KAYAK also launched a World Cup Trends Dashboard to track demand and prices during the tournament period. The dashboard uses KAYAK search and pricing data to show where travel interest is rising, how hotel prices are changing, and which countries are searching most for flights to North America.

AI travel search moves closer to booking

This launch also fits a wider shift in AI-powered travel search. ChatGPT is becoming more important for travel inspiration and discovery, while OTAs and travel platforms still control checkout, payments, and customer support.

In October 2025, Expedia Group partnered with Perplexity to add travel planning tools to the Comet browser, where users can compare destinations, hotels, and flights, create itineraries, and complete bookings with AI support. KAYAK’s Ask AI follows the same direction, but applies it to metasearch by keeping the conversation next to live prices and bookable flight, hotel, and car rental results.

Photo by Ryuno on Unsplash